Tuesday, June 03, 2014

My Review of DaVinci's Demons 2x10: "The Sins Of Daedalus"


Written by Brian Nelson And Corey Reed And Marco Ramirez
Directed by Peter Hoar

Lucrezia: “The deaths that happen have to happen.”

On that cryptic note – this definitely was the best way of ending the current season of this show. With the confidence of knowing it will return for a third run next year, the final few minutes set up such an impressive bout of storylines that should ensure that nearly everyone will have something to do.

DaVinci for instance without even looking finally found his mother. She turned out to be that cryptic seer who’s currently on the Ottoman boats with Bayezid and his advisor and Piero looked more shocked to see her than Leonardo did himself.

I knew there was more to the Seer that met the eye but even I was a bit surprised to learn that she was DaVinci’s mother. With the Book of leaves still being an unresolved plotline, at least adding DaVinci’s mother into the mix should help speed things along. Assuming her boat isn’t blown to bits that is.

As for the Ottoman Empire – they used Lucrezia to try and broker some terms with Sixtus, Lorenzo and Alfonso and the latter three refused them all, which meant that war was declared and while DaVinci didn’t want to totally align himself with destroying the Ottoman Empire, he did however give Alfonso a bit of an advantage though.

As a character, Alfonso continued to grate in this episode but due to the situation at hand, he was forced to repress his Joffrey like tendencies and actually allow both Lorenzo and DaVinci to help him. Assuming there will be casualties from this war, is it too much to hope that Alfonso will become one of them? Even when he’s slightly neutered, he’s still annoying to watch with even Sixtus wasting no time to get away from him as quickly as possible.

Speaking of Sixtus – Lucrezia finally exposed him for the fraud that he has been and while this should eventually lead to his downfall (along with his brother escaping), it didn’t make much difference to Lucrezia here as she was thrown into a dungeon and almost killed by a vengeful Lorenzo. It might be me but I have a feeling that Lorenzo might hold a grudge too well, not that Lucrezia did much to curry his favour in this episode.

However, while I didn’t particularly care for the angst with Lucrezia and DaVinci, I actually do think it was wise for him to set her free. With Lorenzo and Alfonso keeping her locked up, one of them would’ve killed her eventually and it would be nice to see Lucrezia actually get justice for her sister, though next time she might be wiser not setting two empires against each other as her antics with Bayezid have resulted in war.

Keeping with Leonardo though for a bit longer – I really do want to see him get revenge on Carlo but perhaps Piero was right to advise him against dying in vain too. Piero behaved more like a father to DaVinci in this one episode than he’s ever done in the maestro’s life. It’s because of this that I really have changed my mind about the character a great deal.

As for Florence – I really thought Vanessa’s paranoia about Clarice wanting to take her son was going to be justified so it was more a relief when the latter left and put the former in charge, even if it was down to Nico being somewhat crafty as well. The idea of Vanessa ruling Florence while both Lorenzo and Clarice are absent has great potential story wise. It’s probably the most exciting plot the whole episode did as well.

Last but not least though there was also Riario. He spent most of this episode being eye tortured by the Enemies of Man before converting to their way and being introduced to Carlo. It’s sort of sad that Riario has aligned himself with more fanatics but it’s not exactly out of character and hopefully we’ll get some decent scope on this lot next season too.

Also in “The Sins Of Daedalus”

I loved the flashback with DaVinci and Andreas at the start of the episode. I’m going to miss the latter.

Andreas (to DaVinci): “Time has come for you to go out on your own. To become a maestro. Let your work speak for what you believe and love.”

Nico revealed himself to be that Nico when Clarice took exception to him challenging her authority over Vanessa’s safety.

DaVinci: “Your quest has already changed me.”
Al-Rahim: “Do you even know where you’re going?”

Riario: “What do you want from me?”
Enemies Of Man: “We want nothing from you, brother. We want something for you.”

Vanessa named her boy, Giuliano and we saw Nico forge her signature as well, giving her power over Florence as Regent. I couldn’t make out her surname though.

Seer (to Bayezid): “I prefer these chains to yours. Mine are the kind I can see.”

DaVinci: “Why are you doing this?”
Lucrezia: “Because of him. The man you know as Pope Sixtus is not the true Pope but an imposter.”

I’m going to assume that Clarice is personally off to get revenge on Carlo, giving that she was reminded how easily he deceived her by Vanessa.

Alfonso: “Bore a hold?”
DaVinci: “Yes, much in the same way you bore a room.”

Clarice (to Vanessa): “I know it’s a terrible decision but the things we do, we do them for Florence.”

I quite liked Zoroaster being less whiny in this episode and more helpful. I hope we get to see that side of him more next season.

Lorenzo (re Lucrezia): “You still wear her ring? You’re in love with someone ultimately incapable of it.”
DaVinci: “Perhaps the same could be said of me.”
Lorenzo: “Perhaps you deserve one another.”

Chronology: From where “The Enemies Of Man” left off.

This season has certainly been an improvement on the first one with a better selection of stories, some great character moments and some excellent set up material for next season. “The Sins Of Daedalus” was a satisfying way of concluding this season.

Rating: 8 out of 10

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